Amazon Uses "Plogs" to Connect Authors to Readers

Apparently, the blog format is not just for those who want to write their own content.  In an interesting extension of their AmazonConnect program, Amazon offers the ability for any registered user of the site to create a personalized weblog (plog) that will bring in posts from their favourite authors into a blog format.  Sure, you can get RSS feeds into an aggregrator, but Amazon’s effort is a brilliant extension for them to provide a more personalexperience to users and help connect authors directly to their readers.  The premise behind AmazonConnect is all about giving authors tools to help them increase readership, interact directly with their readers, and perhaps most importantly, deepen their relationship with Amazon.com.  When authors have created these types of assets on the site, it’s easy to imagine that those who have blogs will use a link to Amazon to refer people to buy their books.  Aside from the affiliate marketing dollars that this generates for both sides through commissions, this is also a great endorsement for Amazon.  In essence, every author of every book is essentially sending you to the same store to buy it.  Interestingly, as users of Amazon start to create their personalized blogs and get content directly from the authors they read, it may have a net effect on the blogosphere as well.  As more authors create Amazon blogs (many of which link through to their own blogs), this will continue to legitimize blogs in general.  Any effort that helps add to the credibility of personal media as an information source for a mass audience is something every blogger should appreciate.  If only "plog" wasn’t so close to "splog" …